Park Slope Boycott Revisited

Given my proclivity for exposing BDS hoaxes, I guess this piece should touch on the latest bit of fraudulence (in this case a sports hoax) from our friends over at BDS Europe. But since CAMERA has covered this story so well, the only thing I can add is this question: If the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is truly so awe-inspiring and unstoppable (especially in Europe), why must they resort to lies and potential forgery (yet again) regarding who is and who is not a supporter?

Feel free to ponder your own answer to that query (and if any friendly BDS lurkers out there care to join in, they can explain to us why a “movement” that has again been caught so many times trying to mislead the media and public should be taken seriously about anything).

In the meantime, I’d like to point out another example of general BDSholiness closer to home.

When I recently added the website of long-time commenter Barbara from Park Slope to the Divest This blogroll, I decided to see what was new with the Park Slope boycott by reading some of the co-op’s Linewaiter Gazette newsletters published since the boycotters mega defeat last Spring.

Imagine my surprise to discover that months after membership of the co-op told the boycotters they wanted no part of their ugly little project, that BDS proponents continue to shower the Gazette with letters to the editor listing the crimes of the evil Jews. (Whoops! I meant “the Zionist Jews,” whoops, I mean “The Occupation.”)

Actually, it’s not that surprising. And, to be fair, most of these letters seem to be coming from the same thoughtless fanatic (who no doubt considers herself a selfless champion of the oppressed – so long as they are Palestinian living under Israeli jurisdiction – the only candidates for human rights in the Middle East according to the BDSer’s demented and self-serving moral arithmetic).

The letters page of a self-published newsletter for members of a small community food retailer is one of those soft targets I’ve mentioned in the past, especially since the writer of these endless missives understands that leaders of the organization have made the decision to publish anything they’re sent, even if they know it’s irrelevant to the mission of the institution and likely to offend countless co-op members.

For just as the boycotters were willing to exploit loose rules the co-op had in place covering product boycotts motions (since the makers of those rules assumed good will on the part of members bringing such motions to the floor), the losers of last March’s boycott vote are ready to take advantage of the organizations unwillingness to leave anyone’s voices out, a policy again based on assumptions of good will.

Anyone familiar with the Park Slope Food Coop knows that many of its thousands of members are dedicated to a wide variety of political causes. Yet all these dedicated activists are satisfied finding outlets for their political activism that do not require creating needless conflict in the community where they shop.

This is why organizations like the food co-op can live with less-than-airtight rules and regulations regarding boycotts and letters to the editor since the vast majority of the membership understands that they are part of a wider community that includes those who do not share a particular set of political opinions.

But the BDSers can only get their way by breaching that trust in order to remake the world in their own image, a world where everything is politicized to the point where anyone who either buys or eats food is “taking sides” and must therefore be forced to vote on the boycotter’s pet issue or read endless letters denouncing the Israel hater’s political enemies. But this represents just one more example of BDS fanatics finding some justification to drag the Middle East conflict into every civic space in the land.

To their credit, the newsletter editors have recently taken to segregating BDS-related letters to their own section where members are free to ignore them and get on with their lives. And to their even greater credit, Israel’s friends have not fought fire with fire by writing their own endless denunciations of Israel’s foes, but have responded to BDS taunts with appeals to the wider needs of the community, as well as hilarious send offs of the “movement” written by one Jesse Rosenfeld who demonstrates the power of humor to pierce the ludicrousness and hypocrisy of those who demand they be immediately and irrevocably be given a moral high ground they can never earn.

3 Responses to Park Slope Boycott Revisited

We’re building a new one here in my North Philadelphia neighborhood, and it’s exciting to be involved right from the start. We don’t even have the brick and mortar up yet, and G-d knows we certainly need a good grocery store here in the poorest corner of the poorest large city in the US.

This also gets me to thinking how fragile the whole thing can potentially be, and how particularly selfish the BDSers are to poison community organizations / businesses / buying clubs / etc like these. Targeting Caterpillar or boycotting the NFL is one thing, but attempting to tear apart the fabric of local communities is quite another.

It also has a lot to do with narcissism, IMHO. I find in my Coop that there are certain people who absolutely believe that because we share an interest in obtaining a certain brand of tofu, we therefore must share an interest in every other political cause/view that they hold.

I don’t limit it to I/P. I have seen numerous other causes promoted at our General Meetings.